Love walking thru Hinkle in the morning... Anxious to get started on our spring workouts next week.

It certainly was brief, leaving him 38 characters he might have spent otherwise. It surely was romantic, calling to mind, for those who’ve been there or merely seen the movie “Hoosiers,” the charms of one of college basketball’s cathedrals. It was not at all innocent. There was a purpose behind it.

Multiple reports since have indicated Stevens is affirming his intention to stay at Butler. “Brad doesn’t understand why people would assume he's leaving,” a source told CBSSports.com.

When ESPN Los Angeles first reported Thursday that UCLA had targeted Stevens as its next head coach, there was no one in college basketball even remotely surprised. Of course they’d want him. The surprised would be if he listened.

Initially, that report indicated UCLA and Stevens were in contract negotiations. That lit a fire under the story. That language was removed from the report soon afterward, but not until many had seen it. So Stevens’ candidacy became an issue, even though it never seemed to connect with his personality that he would be interested in a move to Southern California.

In the aftermath of Butler’s first appearance in the NCAA title game, Stevens told Sporting News how much he enjoys living in the Indianapolis area and having family nearby.

It would have been inconceivable even a decade ago for a coach at a place such as Butler to decline the head coaching job at a place such as UCLA. It would have been inconceivable for the Butler coach to decline any job in what was then the Pac-10, but Stevens already has said no to the Bruins and to Oregon.

In 1999, when Sporting News learned Ben Howland was about to be named head coach at Pitt, we wrote that he ought to seriously reconsider because he was a special talent and almost certainly would crash his career by taking over the Panthers, the same as the two excellent coaches who preceded him, Paul Evans and Ralph Willard.

What we didn’t know at the time was the Pitt AD Steve Pederson would have the vision and courage to suggest knocking down Pitt Stadium and building the Petersen Events Center; together with the talent and work ethic of Howland and now Jamie Dixon, that decision helped turn Pitt basketball from a graveyard to a destination. We also didn’t know why Howland was so determined to take the job: He was making about $75,000 at Northern Arizona. Pitt was going to pay him more than $400 grand.

That’s how much it has changed in such a short time.

Money has damaged some aspects of college athletics, but not everything. Money that has flowed to Butler as the result of its NCAA success and subsequent escalation to Atlantic 10 and now Big East member allowed the university to raise Stevens from an acceptable coaching salary for a young man at the mid-major level to more than a seven-figure income. He can afford to turn down UCLA now and either remain at Butler or wait until a dream job opens, such as a North Carolina or Duke upon the retirement of Roy Williams or Mike Krzyzewski.

What Stevens and VCU’s Shaka Smart have shown us they understand is that rich is rich and happy is happy, but that richer doesn’t always mean happier.